Purported Seattle gang leader pleads guilty to firearm charge

A purported leader in a Central District street gang pleaded guilty Friday to illegal gun possession.

Eric Charles Sanford, 21, faces up to 10 years in prison on the charge, which was supported by video posted online showing him holding a pistol.

In a statement, a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman said Sanford was arrested following a Nov. 15 traffic stop. Officers examining his car spotted a gun on the seat where he’d been sitting.

An alleged member of the Deuce 8 street gang, Sanford had been convicted seven months earlier on a felony cocaine possession charge. That felony conviction bars him from possessing a firearm.

Online, Sanford referred to himself as “the general.”

In a story on Sanford published in January, former Seattle P-I reporter Claudia Rowe was told that the young man often hung out directly across the street from Garfield High School. Ted Howard, principal of the school, said he’d seen a student rush to shake Sanfords hand “like he’d won the lottery.”

At the time the Rowe’s piece ran, Sanford’s defense attorney asserted his client was “being tarred for his associations.”